All About Learning Press

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Compound Words - It's Not AlrightUh-oh, the Chipmunk of Doom has his cummerbund in a twist again, and this time he’s mad about compound words. I mean, can you blame him? Just look at the invitation he received to the Chipmunk Cha-Cha Ball:

You are cordially invited to attend
the 3rd Annual Chipmunk Cha-Cha Ball.
To RSVP, login to our site and let us know
when you can pickup your tickets.

Acorns are limited, and we’re expecting a big turn out!
Reserve your spot now for the acorn barbecue,
especially if you need alot of tickets for the whole family!

Dress: Your every day tuxes and gowns. No tennis shoes.

Oh, dear. Once he’d come down from the top of the drapes where he’d gone to contemplate this calamity, our furry friend realized just what a difference a space makes. Luckily, these errors are easy to fix, and the Chipmunk knows just what to do.Read On »

Scene 1: New teacher faced with a room full of ninth graders none too keen on a boring punctuation unit. Students look at her askance, suspicious. New teacher smells mutiny in the air.

Scene 2, later that night: New teacher toils into the wee hours, researching teaching techniques. Eureka! moment arrives at 3am.

Scene 3: Bleary-eyed new teacher introduces the Punctuation Olympics, a week-long team competition incorporating art, drama, creative writing, collaborative learning, lessons taught by students, and a flurry of handouts and instructions. Oh, and some punctuation. Students are at once stunned, delighted, and horrified.

And well they should have been. Horrified, that is. Although my intentions were good, I made more than a few rookie mistakes, and in the end, I learned more about teaching and how students learn than the students learned about punctuation.

Read On »

The Chipmunk of Doom is in a snit. He set off for the market early this morning to get the ingredients for his holiday baking…but instead of the pleasant cinnamon-scented experience he’d been hoping for, he was accosted left and right by misbehaving apostrophes. It’s enough to drive a chipmunk nuts!

Up and down the aisles he stomped, turning up his nose at the Orange’s and Fig’s for Sale in the produce section, only to be confronted with a towering display of Mrs. Ices’ Nice Spice’s.

Read On »

The Chipmunk of Doom has been watching TV and he’s not happy.

In fact, he’s downright miffed. You see, after surfing the channels from reality shows to news programs to sitcoms, he discovered that there are generations of people of every kind who have kicked the pronoun ME to the curb—and they’re spreading the trend around the world through the TV!

He’s too upset to speak, so he asked me to tell you this sad grammar tale:

Read On »

Living in another country—Italy, in my case—can be a rich and rewarding experience. But unless you speak the language perfectly, it can also be an obstacle course of words and grammar. Gaffes and faux pas are inevitable, and I’ve committed my fair share—some funny, some awkward, and some just downright embarrassing!

Read On »